Wikitubia:Interviews/Reel
This interview was conducted via email on January 2, 2017, by Aidan Dunphy ---- Reel is a YouTuber with over 139,000 subscribers. ---- Q1: How and when did you discover YouTube? * I discovered YouTube back in around 2008 or so. I was around 7 years old or so, and back then I didn't even have a computer - I only found out about it thanks to my older cousin showing me a music video, back when the site was still relatively new. Q2: Can you remember what the first YouTube video that you ever watch was? * Oddly enough, I remember the exact song my cousin was listening to - 'Riot' by Three Days Grace. Definitely not my preferred type of music, but for some reason I still remember the exact song! Q3: Can you remember what the first video game that you ever played was? * The first video game I ever played was probably GoldenEye (N64). I grew up playing on some very old systems such as the original Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis etc. Q4: How many YouTube videos do you think you've watched in your lifetime? * Too many, to say the least! Q5: How many YouTube channels do you think you are subscribed to? * I'm subscribed to around 50 or so channels - when I'm not recording videos, there's a few people that I like to watch for entertainment / funny moments type videos. The rest are to mainly keep up with game news and the like. Q6: Who was the first YouTuber that you were a fan of? * Not the first, but one that comes to mind is Ali-A - I used to watch a lot of Call of Duty content, and him along with a few others were my primary sources for getting info. Q7: Who influence you to make YouTube videos?﻿ * I've got a lot of internet friends that I've known for years, and I watched them go from a very small subscriber count to several hundred thousand, even millions. YouTube always seemed like a really cool thing to do as both a hobby and a career, so I decided to give it a go! Q8: What do you think about the new YouTube Advertiser-Friendly content guidelines? * Due to the type of content I post, I'm not really impacted by the new guidelines so I don't really have much of a say on them. I have heard from others that they're really bad, but I never really looked into it and haven't noticed any issues/changes on my end. Q9: How did you come up with your former YouTube channel name Reel, and your current YouTube channel name xReelGamingx? * I started off with the name 'xReelGamingx', which I somehow came up with when I was 11. Recently, I've come to think of the name as unprofessional, and am in the process of rebranding to "Reel" across all social media. It's definitely a lot more simplified and professional this way, and I think it'll be a welcomed change. Q10: Was xReelGamingx your YouTube channel name when you first created your YouTube channel? * I've only recently claimed the name "Reel" on YouTube, Twitter, etc. I started this channel as 'xReelGamingx', but before that I had a few other channels with names unrelated. Q11: Currently who is your favorite YouTuber or YouTubers? * As of now, I don't really have a favorite YouTuber. Mainly it's videos from my friends / people I make videos with, but I do watch some people such as VanossGaming and Speedy for entertainment. Q12: Do you have a favorite and least favorite video that you have uploaded? * I don't really have a favorite/least favorite specific video, but something that I really like doing are livestreams with my friends - they're really fun to do, and I can show a form of personality / creativity that the viewer wouldn't really see in a gaming news video. Q13: What is your favorite video game? * My favorite games as of right now are GTA 5, Battlefield 1, and I do also occasionally enjoy some older Call of Duty games. I'm also looking forward to Red Dead Redemption 2 which is coming later on this year. Q14: What is your favorite video game to record? * GTA 5 for sure - been uploading it for years and I still genuinely enjoy it! Q15: What made you want to upload mostly GTA 5 videos? * I've played GTA 5 since it's initial release in 2013, but it wasn't until early 2014 that a friend of mine convinced me to start uploading it myself. I took his advice, and it definitely worked out! Q16: What is your favourite part about having a YouTube channel and being a YouTuber? * My favorite part is being able to meet people that I otherwise wouldn't know whatsoever! It's crazy in my case specifically being very good friends with people who I used to watch regularly when I was younger. Along with that, making videos is fun, and it's crazy to see a loyal fanbase always there to support me! Q17: Do you play video games in your free time that you don't record and upload? * I play a lot of Battlefield, but rarely post it on YouTube. I plan to post some more of it when the first update drops, but I've just found that I'm able to sustain making GTA 5 videos for much longer, and my subscribers seem to like it best. Q18: How many video games do you own? * Probably a couple hundred gathered up from over the years - of those, I only play a select few, and a good majority of them are on my older consoles that are now packed away. Q19: Do you make a living from YouTube or do you have another job? * As of right now, YouTube is my only "job" so to speak - I'm too young to actually get a job yet, but I think of it more as a hobby right now - it'd be awesome for it to turn into a full-time career in the future though, and that's one of my goals! Q20: Do you watch your own videos after you upload them? * Always - I like to make sure everything is perfect, and plus it's really cool to think that I personally created it! Q21: You currently have over 63,900 subscribers, did you ever think you would have that many subscribers? * Definitely not - when I started, a good friend of mine had around 2,000 and I always thought about how huge of a number that was and that I'd never get there. If you went back to ~6 years ago when I created my first channel and told me I'd have over 60,000 subscribers, I wouldn't believe you at all. Q22: You currently have uploaded 451 videos, did you ever think you would uploaded that many videos? * The amount of videos isn't something I think about much, but when I first started YouTube, I didn't even have my own computer. I'd only be able to upload if I was at someone's house (and had an idea), so I'd probably only get a handful of videos done every month. 400+ would most likely sound crazy to me back then too. Q23: Currently your most viewed video has over 1.3 million views, did you ever think one of your videos would have that many views and would gain that many views 44 days after you uploaded it? * I just reached this recently, and before that my most viewed video was around 100,000 or so. I never thought I'd hit a million, and I'm still in shock. It's just a number I can't personally picture in my head, and I still remember how excited I was when I passed 1M total channel views - to think that now I have one single video with over that is insane. Q24: What is your lifetime subscriber and video view goal? * My goal for a while has been 100,000, but I don't intend to stop at that. I really want to go for 1,000,000 subscribers one day, and though it seems so far away, so did 1,000 at one point or another! Q25: What was your lifetime subscriber goal when you first started uploading YouTube videos? * My first channel got around 400 subscribers or so in it's first year and a half. When I started my current one, I really wanted to go for 1,000 or so, which like I said seemed extremely far away. Q26: How long do you think YouTube will last? * I'm hoping it lasts for many, many more years. A lot of people think that it will be obsolete in around 5 or so years, and I really hope that doesn't happen. Q27: How long do you think you will be uploading YouTube video? * As of right now, I have no intentions of stopping in the foreseeable future. School sometimes gets in the way, but nothing major that would cause me to stop uploading altogether. Q28: Are you planning on going to any YouTube/Gaming conventions? * For a lot of the events, they're not really worth going to if you're under 18. Once I'm there, I hope to travel a lot and meet some of my friends who live in other places of the world, and maybe even some subscribers at events! Q29: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to make videos on YouTube? * Sounds very generic, but seriously - don't give up. There's going to be a lot of times where you'll lose motivation, but you just have to keep going. If you quit the first time you lose motivation, you'll find that you'll be quitting very early on. Q30: What is the future for you and your channel? * I'm looking forward to posting Red Dead Redemption 2 when it comes out later on in the year, along with maybe introducing some more Battlefield/Call of Duty as well. I don't want to be limited to one game, and I hope to expand on that later on. Q31: Have you ever done an interview like this before? * I did an interview with Grin back in September where they called me and asked me some questions, and I also helped them improve their site design.